Israel’s ambassador was ordered home from El Salvador after he was found naked, bound and drunk in the garden of his official residence – with sado-masochistic sex toys nearby, officials said yesterday.

The Foreign Ministry said U.S.-born Tsuriel Rafael – who couldn’t identify himself to police until a red bondage ball was removed from his mouth – would be replaced as soon as possible.

“The ministry sees his behavior as unbecoming of a diplomat,” a spokeswoman said.

The incident happened in San Salvador two weeks ago but was reported in the Israeli media as a criminal attack on an unidentified Israeli ambassador in Latin America. No details were given.

Concerned members of El Salvador’s Jewish community learned the incident involved Rafael, and became suspicious because no police report was filed.

It turned out that the Salvadoran police responsible for guarding his residence had found the nude Rafael in the yard, wearing sexual bondage equipment.

After he was untied and the ball was removed from his mouth, he told police he was the ambassador of Israel.

The Foreign Ministry insisted yesterday it immediately ordered him home.

“As soon as the episode was brought to attention of the Foreign Ministry it reacted and the ambassador was recalled to Israel. He is going to remain in Israel,” the spokeswoman said.

But there was evidence Rafael, a 26-year veteran of the diplomatic corps, convinced his superiors to allow him to stay in office as long as his indiscretion remained confidential.

However, yesterday details were leaked to the Israeli newspaper Maariv. It reported the incident but didn’t identify the diplomat or the country involved.

Within hours Rafael’s identity was leaked to Israeli radio and the scandal heated up.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zehavit Ben-Hillel said the reports were accurate. She said Rafael did not break any laws. The fate of his career was unclear.

Rafael, who was born in America in 1952 and emigrated to Israel in 1971, had served for six months as the ambassador in El Salvador.

He allegedly was involved in a previous incident when he was found drunk in his residence.

The embarrassing affair was one of several involving Israeli diplomats in recent years and prompted calls for an overhaul in the diplomat appointment process.

In 2000, Israel’s ambassador to France died of cardiac arrest in a Paris hotel. Media reports said he was with a woman who was either a mistress or a prostitute.

Last year, Israel replaced its ambassador to Australia, Naftali Tamir, after he said Israel and Australia are “like sisters” because their peoples don’t have the Asian characteristics of “yellow skin and slanted eyes.”

In 2005, Israel canceled the appointment of a diplomat to Australia after it was discovered that he had published pictures of nude Brazilian women on the Internet while on a mission in Brazil.